1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a trigger assembly, and more particularly to a trigger assembly with a safety device for a crossbow, which provides two safety features.
2. Description of Related Art
A crossbow is a weapon that aims and shoots an arrow at a target. A conventional crossbow substantially comprises a stock, a bow, a bowstring and a trigger assembly. The stock has a front end and a rear end. The bow is transversely mounted on the front end of the stock and has two ends and at least two pulleys mounted respectively on the ends of the bow. The bowstring has two ends with a loop at each end. The loops are attached respectively to the ends of the bow, and the bowstring is mounted around the pulleys and is drawn toward the rear of the stock to propel an arrow when the bowstring is released. The trigger assembly is mounted on the stock and has a catch and a trigger. The catch holds the bowstring in the drawn position and is selectively held in place and released by the trigger. When the trigger is pulled, the drawn bowstring will be released from the catch and the arrow will be shot.
As a weapon, the crossbow has the potential to injure people accidentally. Therefore, a safety device is necessary to keep a crossbow from injuring people unintentionally. However, conventional crossbows usually do not have safety devices, so use of conventional crossbows is hazardous.
Some manufacturers have added a safety device to a conventional crossbow to improve the safety of the crossbow, but the conventional safety device in a crossbow is manual. A crossbow with a safety device is still dangerous when the user forgets to engage the safety device.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a trigger assembly for a crossbow to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The main objective of the invention is to provide a trigger assembly for a crossbow, which has a safety device that automatically engages when the bowstring is drawn and connected to the trigger assembly to improve the safety of the crossbow.
The trigger assembly has a housing, a trigger, an actuating lever, a string holder, a bowstring catch biasing member, a safety pin, a safety lock, a pushing arm, a block, a block biasing member and a string stop. The housing has a top, a bottom, a front end, a rear end, a side, a mouth transversely defined in the front end and a slot transversely defined through the side and parallel to the mouth. The trigger is pivotally mounted in the housing and has a top portion and a bottom portion that protrudes from the bottom of the housing. The actuating lever is pivotally mounted in the housing and abuts the top portion of the trigger. The actuating lever has a front end with a hook and a rear end. The bowstring catch is pivotally mounted in the housing and has a front end, a rear end, a string hook and a leg. The string hook is formed on the front end of the bowstring catch and corresponds to the mouth in the housing. The leg extends downward from the rear end of the bowstring catch and selectively engages the hook on the actuating lever. The bowstring catch biasing member is mounted in the housing and has an end connected to the bowstring catch to make the string hook of the bowstring catch retract from the mouth. The safety pin is moveably mounted in the housing and has a top and a bottom that is supported on the rear end of the actuating lever. The safety lock is moveably mounted in the housing and has a front end, a rear end and a push rod. The rear end of the safety lock corresponds to and selectively abuts the top of the safety pin. The push rod extends transversely from the safety lock and into the slot in the housing. The pushing arm is moveably mounted in the housing and has a bottom, a front end corresponding to the mouth in the housing, a rear end and a protrusion abutting the push rod on the safety lock. The block is pivotally mounted in the housing and has a transverse rod laterally extending from the block and selectively engaging the front end of the pushing arm. The block biasing member is mounted in the housing and is connected to the block to push the block into the mouth when the transverse rod on the block disengages from the front end of the pushing arm. The string stop is pivotally mounted on the housing, extends into the mouth and corresponds to the block.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.